CNN’s Scott Jennings pushed back against the outlet’s host Wednesday while discussing allegations that a Trump campaign staff member harassed an Arlington National Cemetery official during their visit.
Former President Donald Trump and his staff attended a ceremony Monday to honor the third anniversary of the deaths of 13 servicemembers killed outside Kabul International Airport during the botched Afghanistan withdrawal. On “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer,” Jennings responded to claims of a verbal and physical altercation between a Trump staffer and a cemetery official while criticizing President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for their treatment of Gold Star families.
“I don’t know whether it‘s true or not, I wasn‘t there. The Trump campaign says it wasn‘t true. I assume we‘ll find out more about it. I mean, honestly, the way Biden and Harris have treated these families and ignored them and disrespected them after one of the most disastrous decisions that they made in this White House to me is the most despicable part of this,” Jennings said.
“Look, there‘s a lot of opinions about this and everybody‘s got comments. But the only opinion I really care about are the families in question. And they said, as J.D. Vance reported, ‘We had given our approval for Trump‘s official videographer and photographer to attend,” Jennings continued. “We cherish these memories forever. We’re deeply grateful for the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief.’”
Jennings continued to call out how Trump has given the service member families “more than the time of day” compared to Biden and Harris.
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“I mean, they put out a long statement saying they could not have been happier to have Donald Trump there at Arlington with them. He‘s given them more than the time of day, and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can‘t even do that,” Jennings said.
However, the CNN host challenged Jennings, asking if the Trump campaign should have “gotten approval from the cemetery” if they hadn’t already. Jennings then responded by calling it a “political garbage attack” and noted that the families were “happy” to have Trump at the ceremony.
“You know what I think? Only people who are so craven about this could try to turn something positive, which is Donald Trump‘s spending time with gold-star families into some political garbage attack. That‘s what I think,” Jennings responded. “The only people who matter are gold-star families, they invited Trump. He went, and they’re happy he was there. And if that’s not good enough for the Democrats, you know what, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Following the visit, allegations emerged claiming a cemetery official tried to stop Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section reserved for recent U.S. casualties, where only cemetery officials are allowed to film, according to NPR. As the official allegedly attempted to intervene, the Trump staffer reportedly verbally abused and pushed the official aside.
The Trump campaign has since denied the allegations, with Trump’s campaign spokesman Steven Cheung telling NPR in a statement that a private photographer “was permitted on the premises.”
“We are prepared to release footage if such defamatory claims are made,” Cheung said. “The fact is that a private photographer was permitted on the premises, and for whatever reason an unnamed individual, clearly suffering from a mental health episode, decided to physically block members of President Trump’s team during a very solemn ceremony.”
